Compressible concrete-pile former.



E. D. WHITNEY. GOMPRESSIBLE CONCRETE PILE FORMER.

APPLICATION FILED OOI'. 21,1908.

7 Patented Sept. 7; 1909.

wfiweses:

Quill 1 d EDWIN D. WHITNEY, OF PORTLAND, OREGON:

COMPRESSIBLE CONCRETE-FILE FORMER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 21, 1908.

Patented Sept. "7, 1941 9.

Serial No. 458,865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN D. WHITNEY, a cltizen of the United States,and a resident of Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State ofOregon, have invented a new and useful Improvement in CompressibleConcrete-Pile Formers, of which the following is a specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings as constituting a partthereof.

My invention relates to the art of making concrete piles, and has forits primary object to obtain a pile-former which may be readily removedfrom the cavity made in the soil, is easily manufactured, and consistsonly of a few pieces. In the construction of a concrete pile-former, itis essential that the same be adapted to be readily withdrawn from thecavity made in the soil. To this end I make my pile-former compressiblein cross-section, the same consistingof a shell of angular form, incross-section, and preferably made of resilient material, so that thewalls of the shell are adapted to be sprung inward, in cross-section,between their angular junctures, inorder to relieve the pressure of thesurfaces of the shell upon the walls of the cavity, and thus facilitatethe withdrawal of the shell.

My invention is further based upon the principle that since a pilesupports its load partly by the friction of the soil on the sides of thepile, greater friction-area of the sides alfords a relative increase ofcarrying capacity; and the theory of my invention is to make use of thisprinciple, either to obtain greater carrying capacity for a columnproduced by a given quantlty of concrete material, or to obtain astandard of carrying capacity with a smaller quantity of material. Forexample, since there is no appreciable flexure in a pile, viewed as a'column, when driven into compact soil, if the arc of exterior curvatureof the segments of a circular area be inverted so as to give the samedegree of concavity as its former convexity, the friction areas of thesides of the pile will remain the same, but a smaller quantity ofmaterial will be used in making the pile.

The details of construction of my invention are illustrated in thedrawings, in

which:

Figure 1 represents, perspectively, a crosssection of the resilientshell of my former and its bracing core in place; Figs. 2, 2

taken together, represent a vertical section showing my pile-former ascontained in the cavity made by it in the soil; and Fig. 3 is a plansection illustrating a modification of the construction of mypile-former, the shell being made triangular in cross-section, and thesurfaces between the angular junctures thereof concaved to obtaingreater frictional area.

Referring'now to the letters designating the parts in the several views:the outer shell or case, a, of my former is made of thin sheets ofmetal, united at their edges by any convenient means, such for example,as angleirons or bars 6, said uniting means being so as to. normallyimpart to the surfaces of the shell-sides an inward spring, ordeflection from a straight line, (as indicated by dotted lines 0, d,in'Figs. 1 and 3) between the angular junctures Z, on, etc. of thesides.

In cross-section, my shell may be made quadrilateral, as shown in Fig.1, or triangular, as shown in Fig. 8. To brace the sides of the shellwhile driving my pileformer into the soil, I use a removable core. Thelatter may be of any convenient construction, the bearing faces of whichare so arranged as to brace the sides of the shell, substantially asillustrated in l and 3. I find it convenient to make my core of T- beams6, arranged to bear with their flanges 9;

whereby, in lifting, the latter will draw in it the sides thereofbetween their angular j unctures Z, m, etc., and consequently reduce thecross-section area of the shell. Y

My pileformer is preferably tapered downward, so as to facilitate thepenetration of the soil, and, likewise, the removal of the shell; andthe point i of my former is conveniently made by pointing the lower endsof the core, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

In order to reduce the friction area of the flanges, 7'', against theinner faces of the sides of the shell, I provide the latter with aseries of longitudinally arranged protrusions 7'.

in using my pile-former, the core is, as usual, inserted in the shell,the bearing faces of the core pressing against and bracing the sides ofthe shell.

In the use of a pile-former having concaved faces, as illustrated inFig. 3, the cavity made in the soil will be of greater cross-sectionthan the shell itself will have upon the withdrawal of the core; andthus as soon as the core has been removed, the inwart spring of thesides of the shell will, to some. legree, of itself ren'iove thepressure of the shell-sides against the faces of the cavity, and thedistances between the angular junctures or corners Z, m will also bediminished to some degree, thereby facilitating the convenientwithdrawalof the shell.

in the triangular construction of my pileformer (shown in Fig. 3) isillustrated the additional feature that the sides a may be curved inard, or concaved from a straight line cross-section, to relativelyincrease the friction-area of the surfaces of the pile. In otherrespects the type shown in Fig. 8 is subs ant-ially the same inconstruction and operation as that shown in Fig. 1. The angular cornersof the sides n are united by being riveted to strips 0, the core 7) issubstantially of the same construction as that used in connection withmy quadrilateral form of shell, except the flange-beams are adapted tothe triangular construction shown in Fig. 3, and the protrusions q onthe inner faces of the triangular walls a are the equivalents of theprotrusions In making my pile-former of triangular cross-section,asshown in Fig.3,l also preferably taper the same downward and form thepoint thereof substantially as illustrated in Figs. 2, 2.

I claim:

1. A compressible pile-former consisting of a shell of angular form incross-section and made of resilient material.

A compressible pile-former consisting of a shell of angular form incross-section and made of resilient material, and a core adapted to beremovably inserted in the shell to brace the sides thereof.

3. A compressible pileformer consisting of shell of angular form incross-section and made of resilient material, a core removably insertedin the shell and consisting of T-loeams arranged to bear with theirflanges against the inner faces of the sides of the shell, and meansuniting the T-beams at their webs.

4. A compressible pile-former consisting of a shell of angular form incross-section and made of resilient material, a core removably insertedin the shell and consisting of T-beams arranged to bear with theirflanges against the inner faces of the sides of the shell, means unitingthe T-beams at their webs, and protrusions on the inner faces of thesides of the shell and positioned relatively to the bearing faces of thecore.

5. A compressible pile-former consisting of a shell of angular form incross-section and made of resilient material, the walls of the shellbeing adapted to normally spring inward in cross section between theirangular junctures, and a core adapted to be removably inserted in theshell to brace the sides thereof.

(3. A compressible pile-former consisting of a shell of angular form incross-section and made of resilient material, reinforcement at theangular juncturcs of the shellsides, and a core adapted to be removablyinserted in the shell to brace the sides thereof.

7. A compressible pile former consisting of a shell of angular form incross section and made of resilient material, a core adapted to beren'iovably inserted in the shell to brace the sides thereof, andprotrusions on the inner faces of the sides of the shell positionedrelatively to the bearing faces of the core.

8. A compressible pile-former consisting of a shell of angular form incross-section and made of resilient material, a core rcmovably insertedin the shell and consisting of T-beams arranged to bear with theirflanges a 'ainst the inner faces of the sides of the shell, andangle-irons uniting the T- beams at their webs.

9. A compressible pile-former consisting of a shell of angular form incross-section and made of resilient material, a core removably insertedin the shell and consisting of T-beams arranged to bear with theirflanges against the inner faces of the sides of the shell, angle-ironsuniting the T-beains at their webs, and protrusions on the inner facesof the sides of the shell and positioned relatively to the bearing facesof the core.

10. i compressible pile-former consisting of a shell of angular form incross-section and made of resilient material, a reinforcement at theangular junctures of the shellsides, a core removably inserted in theshell and consisting of T-beams arranged to-bear with their flangesagainst the inner faces of the sides of the shell, and means uniting theT-beams at their webs.

11. A compressible pile former consisting of a shell of angular form incross section and made of resilient material, the walls of the shellbeing adapted to normally spring inward in cross section between theirangular junctures, a core adapted to be removably inserted in the shellto brace the sides thereof, and protrusions on the inner faces of thesides of the shell positioned relatively to the bearing faces of thecore.

12. A compressible pile-former consisting of a shell of angular form incross-section and made of resilient material, the walls of the shellbeing adapted to normally spring inward in cross-sectlon between theirangular junctures, a reinforcement at the angular junctures of theshell-sides, a core remevably inserted in the shell and consisting 20EDWIN D. lVI-IITNE Y. 'Witnesses H. K. SARGENT, T. J. GEIsLER.

